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BRIGHTON SIEGE PUTS FOCUS ON PAROLE

“How was he on parole?” Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said of Yacqub Khayre, the Somalian refugee shot dead by police in Brighton, Victoria yesterday after taking a sex worker hostage and killing the receptionist who worked in the serviced apartments. The Herald Sun reports that Khayre had a long history of thefts and assaults, and setting fire to prisons. The Age reports that Khayre was charged and acquitted over plans for a suicide attack on the Holsworthy army barracks, and he was considered a “peripheral player” in an anti-terror investigation. He was released on parole in December 2016, despite reportedly little belief he could be rehabilitated.

The Victorian opposition is calling on Victorian Premier Daniel Andrewsto resign over the incident, but Andrews accused them of grandstanding, pointing out that Khayre was sentenced under the former Liberal state government. Turnbull has said that parole laws would be a focus of Friday’s Council of Australian Governments meeting, and The Australian reports that the PM will push for uniform parole laws across Australia.

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ADANI GETS NOD, NEEDS CASH

The $16.5 billion Adani coal mine in Queensland has the green light after seven years of court cases and approvals processes. The Courier-Mail reports that some of those alleged thousands of jobs that the project will bring to the region will come very soon, with Downer Group and AECOM commencing mine development and the rail link, and Adani’s regional headquarters to be set up in Townsville.

There is still a $3.3 billion funding hole that Adani will need to fill before the first stage of the mine is complete, including the $1 billion the mining giant wants from the Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund. Environment groups have told The Australian they will amp up pressure to sway the NAIF against giving the loan to Adani. NAIF should make its decision before the end of this year.

DONATIONS, DONATIONS

Opposition Leader Bill Shortenwas fired up after being inundated with questions by a journalist at an event yesterday over Labor Senator Sam Dastyari‘s lobbying on the behalf of a Chinese donor to the Labor party. Shorten said Dastyari had paid the price over his “indiscretion” last year in resigning from the shadow ministry. Turnbull said that Dastyari still had questions to answer, while 4 Corners also revealed that former Coalition minister Andrew Robb walked out from parliament into an $880,000-per year part time consulting job with a Chinese billionaire. Both Labor and the Coalition support a ban on foreign political donations, but the government has yet to introduce any legislation into parliament to support this policy since Turnbull announced it at the National Press Club at the start of this year.

Part of what still needs to be worked out will be whether foreign donations will be banned for third party organisations — like GetUp, or environment groups, or the Institute of Public Affairs — as well as political parties.

THE NUMBER TO REMEMBER: $18.29

That’s the new hourly rate for the minimum wage. The Fair Work Commission yesterday ordered a 3.3% rise in the minimum wage of $0.59 per hour to $18.29 per hour — or $22.20 extra per week. It is much less than the $45 per week sought by unions, and the Fair Work Commission said that research has said that modest and regular increases in wages do not increase unemployment, and yet some are still crying poor, claiming that the increase will cost jobs. One expert quoted in the AFR suggests that the Fair Work Commission is engaged in “magic pudding talk“. ACTU Secretary Sally McManus said that the decision showed the system was broken and would keep people who are working in poverty.

HE REALLY SAID THAT

“Well, Islamophobia hasn’t killed anyone. Islamist terrorism has now killed tens of thousands of people, that’s why it is absolutely critical that there be the strongest possible response at every level.” — Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott. Security agencies have said the former PM should know better, and it comes just after Islamophobia resulted in the murder of two men on a train in Portland.

Brisbane: A protest by doctors and students against CBA investing in the Adani Carmichael Coal Mine is planned.

Perth: AMEC Mining Conference gets underway.

THE COMMENTARIAT

Adani’s trick of the ‘green light’ — Matthew Stevens (Australian Financial Review $): “My concern is that the economics of this mine and rail project appear to be so shaky that the two proponents (yes, there are two) require direct taxpayer funding in the form of a large, long, low-cost loan from the Commonwealth and a generous, cash-flow sustaining, royalty concession by the state.”

TODAY IN TRUMP

Donald Trump has bragged about his role in moving Saudi Arabia to diplomatically isolate US ally Qatar. “During my recent trip to the Middle East I stated that there can no longer be funding of Radical Ideology,” he tweeted. “Leaders pointed to Qatar — look!”

The brag has put Trump at odds with his Secretaries of State and Defence, as well as the Pentagon, which has a key airbase in the now isolated Gulf country from which attacks on the Islamic State are launched. Qatar has often been accused of funding violent Islamist groups in the region — but so too has Saudi Arabia.

THE WORLD

A man has been shot by police outside Notre Dame cathedral in Paris after hitting an officer with a hammer and yelling “this is for Syria”. Holidaying families were forced to shelter inside the building as the incident took place. French prosecutors have opened a terrorism investigation. — Reuters

A 25-year-old American has been charged after allegedly leaking documents to news website The Intercept. Reality Leigh Winner was arrested before the website published the resulting story, which detailed an attack by Russian hackers targeting US election officials. It is the first leak prosecution since Donald Trump became president. — Washington Post

“Rideshare” service Uber has fired more than 20 staff after an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct. The company has been on the defensive since a blog post aired allegations about poor treatment of women in the workplace. Senior executives are thought to be among those dismissed. — Bloomberg

We found Mike Flynn’s secret Twitter account (Daily Beast): “In March 2015, zulutym tweeted a picture at Flynn Jr. ‘The ability to speak multiple languages is an asset, but the ability to keep your mouth shut in any language is priceless,’ the image’s caption read.”

Popular people live longer (New York Times): “Research suggests that despite the great temptations to gain status, those who achieve it ultimately experience greater unhappiness and dissatisfaction, while those who are likable have far greater satisfaction and success.”

How being a news junkie makes you racist (Ozy): “We all have that racist aunt, or that friend who says questionable things about the news without really understanding what’s going on. But staying well-informed helps the masses understand nuance and avoid the prejudices of ignorance, right? Not so fast. Recent research suggests that the more news you watch, the more Islamophobic you become.”

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About the Author

Josh is Crikey’s general reporter covering politics, immigration, technology, the environment and, well, just about everything. Josh joined Crikey in 2015 after being lured away from his role as an award-winning technology journalist for ZDNet.

Marilyn J Shepherd

1. the man was not a refugee, his parents were refugees and he was a citizen decades ago – he came here at age 3 and it’s time the media all stopped being so damn shallow.
2. he was not violent in any form until being locked up in heinous conditions in super max prisons on remand for thought crimes he didn’t even commit. He was barely out of his teens.

Like Man Monis he was a man driven insane by Australia, and just because he was a muslim did not make him a terrorist. It amazes me that almost no muslims commit serious crimes in Australia but if they do they are all killed on the scene while Jimmy the greek is not harmed too much after murdering 6 people and injuring 28 others less than a day after being bailed for stabbing his own brother.

Robert Garnett

Parole is hardly the issue. One way or another these serial offenders will get out and offend again. They are the 20% of jail populations that are the real danger to society. Most of them are psychopaths. They will not reform, they cannot reform and given the ongoing danger to the rest of the population they should never be released. The myth that everyone can be reformed perpetrated, by defense lawyers, the church and other ill informed people is patently rubbish.

If we didn’t fill our prisons with the 80% who don’t re-offend and took a realistic approach to psychopathy we wouldn’t be running out of room in our prisons for the really dangerous people.

How many times did this current offender have to offend before the politicians and judicial system woke up that he should NEVER be released.

I am not of the view that such people should be punished by the system. As any person knows who takes the time to educate themselves about the issue, people who are serial offenders do NOT respond to punishment. What they need is to be removed from society and closely managed for no other reason than to protect innocent people.

No I don’t think they should be murdered by the state. I always say to myself “There but for the grace of God go I”.
They didn’t choose to be like they are, it’s a ridiculous notion that they would. They should be treated decently and humanely in a secure environment until they die.